Chapter 64: Perhaps Our Fates Are Not Aligned

“No way, just my luck?” Su Mu was dumbfounded. He’d told himself he’d forget about Kate, but how could anyone so easily forget someone they liked?

All this time, he’d hoped to bump into Kate somewhere along the streets of Chinatown. He even purposefully, or sometimes unintentionally, passed by her house—just wanting to catch a distant glimpse, to say “Hi,” or maybe “Long time no see.” But just his luck—when he longed to see her, she never appeared; yet now, in this most awkward of circumstances, he met her. The very air seemed to freeze. Su Mu saw the shock in Kate’s eyes, and after a split second, she flusteredly pulled her hand away from the delinquent girl beside her.

He wished the ground would swallow him up. At this moment, Su Mu felt that even bumping into his own mother would be preferable to being misunderstood by Kate. The girl beside him, a streetwalker, felt slighted but her shame had long since been buried under money. She quickly moved on to solicit other men.

An older man, lured by her, glanced over, gave Su Mu a knowing “men understand each other” smile, and obediently followed her into an alley. Likely, two days’ wages would be gone in a flash…

To Kate, Su Mu was a rather special sort of boy, for their last two meetings had been nothing short of awkward, and this one was no exception. If there were a fortune teller nearby at this moment, perhaps he’d declare that their fates were simply incompatible. Otherwise, how could every encounter be so coincidental? There really were fortune tellers in America, and the famous ones earned more than white-collar professionals; whenever something happened, families liked to consult them.

A curly-haired old black dog was squatting beside Su Mu just then. The dog squeezed out a loud fart, realized it was a false alarm, then wagged its tail and followed its owner away.

Watching this, Kate couldn’t help but laugh. She’d always loved animals, and watched the black dog amble off down the street.

Seeing the calm smile on her face, Su Mu grew even more anxious, like a guilty thief. He hurried forward to explain, “Just now… that… I wasn’t going to do anything. I’m just here to buy groceries! Seafood!”

He even showed Kate the wad of cash in his hand, cursing his luck inside: why hadn’t he run into her when he won the lottery, or during the elderly parade, or earlier at the old factory? Why, of all moments, did she have to appear now, in this most humiliating of circumstances?

He couldn’t help but think of Murphy’s Law—two rules proved true in an instant: “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong,” and “If you worry about something happening, it’s more likely to happen.” As illogical as they seemed, sometimes these laws were eerily accurate.

Su Mu began to suspect that perhaps his ancestors were playing tricks on him because he hadn’t gone to burn incense for them at Qingming this year. He resolved that next time, he must visit the temple, or perhaps go with his neighbors to pray to God.

This year, Su Mu’s luck had actually been quite good—he’d caught a lucky radio announcement, earned his first pot of gold, and been admitted for free to an excellent private high school. Yet his good fortune hadn’t extended to romance, which was a continual source of frustration.

“What happened just now?” Kate blinked at him.

To believe Kate was ignorant of these girls’ professions, Su Mu simply couldn’t. This part of the market had become one of the largest red-light districts near Chinatown. The locals all knew it, which was why men with no ulterior motives rarely came here at night.

Blame it on the local police for looking the other way. Maybe they were paid off, or maybe they didn’t want to lose such a convenient source of pleasure—whatever the reason, they never bothered with this area. Even if a patrol car did come to disperse the women, it was all bluster and no substance; they’d circle twice, then leave.

As for those rumors that after Las Vegas boomed, the prettier streetwalkers from L.A. had gone there to strike it rich—Su Mu had heard all this secondhand. Li Ping’an knew a lot, supposedly from overhearing his father’s conversations with friends. How his dad came by such knowledge, though, was quite the mystery…

“Um, it’s just… um.” Su Mu was so flustered he stammered. He wasn’t the smooth-talking, flirtatious type. Afraid Kate would misunderstand, but unable to explain without making it worse, he simply said, “It’s nothing. I’m just here to buy groceries.”

Kate couldn’t help laughing at Su Mu’s awkward, almost constipated expression of distress. She replied, “You said that already. I’m here to help my mother buy groceries too. Long time no see—have you decided which school you’ll go to?”

With the conversation opened, Su Mu breathed a huge sigh of relief and answered more easily, “Menlo Park High School, up in San Francisco. I just got the admission letter today, so I’m here to buy some food to celebrate.”

“Congratulations. That’s quite far,” Kate said warmly.

“It’s mainly because it’s close to Stanford. I hope to study there in the future. There are some other reasons, too… Otherwise, I’d rather finish high school here in L.A.”

Su Mu thought this topic was boring, so he turned it around. “What about you? Have you finished filming your movie? What’ve you been up to lately? Today isn’t a holiday—why aren’t you in school?”

Without realizing it, the two of them walked into the market together. Su Mu didn’t know how Kate felt, but to him, it was as if they were a newlywed couple out grocery shopping—an incredibly comfortable feeling. This was their third close encounter, and their relationship was growing closer each time.

He’d had no advantages before, no confidence at all. Now things were changing. Though he still lacked confidence in front of Kate, he was already far better than the last time they met.

“I only got that one movie role. Lately I’ve been learning acting, and I don’t plan to go back to Castelar. I have my textbooks ready; I’ll just study at home and take the SSAT.”

Kate vaguely sensed that Su Mu had changed, though she couldn’t say exactly how. Last time, talking to him felt easy and comfortable—this time, it was the same. Compared to other boys her age, he was smarter, more mature; all of this drew her in. She continued, “I don’t think I’m suited to be an actress. My acting coach says I can’t bring emotion into film, and I think so too. I’m not very expressive, right?”

“Not at all. You’re beautiful, and your smile is lovely. Maybe the parts just didn’t suit you.” Su Mu comforted her gently, stopping by a seafood stall. Kate stopped too.

“Leon, do you really think so?”

Su Mu, who was asking the vendor about the price of octopus, turned back and answered her without hesitation, “Yes. Everyone at school likes you. Some people even sneak glances at you all the time.”

“Including you?”

“Of course…”

Su Mu suddenly realized he’d fallen into her trap and blurted out what was truly in his heart, staring into Kate’s beautiful eyes and seeing the laughter in them.

He clenched his teeth, decided to risk it all, and said, “I like you too. Ever since you moved to Chinatown, I thought you were beautiful the first time I saw you.”

His heart raced, terrified that Kate would suddenly turn cold.

“This must count as a confession,” Su Mu thought, startled by his own courage in uttering such words.

Kate’s response left him speechless. She said, “That’s a little weird. I was so little then, only about this tall—how could you like me?”

Su Mu couldn’t follow her train of thought at all. He replied helplessly, “But I was little too! I just thought you were pretty and only dared to sneak peeks at you. Now I realize you’re not just pretty—you’re really cute too…”